Employee Ownership Policy

Rationale

Employee ownership promotes more widely shared asset accumulation in a state, therefore countering the growing disparity between high-wealth and low-wealth individuals. It broadens the scope of business capital ownership by placing shares in the hands of many employees, rather than the hands of a few owners. It can also help prevent plant shutdowns and decrease the risk of capital flight from the state. Currently, 28 states have passed employee ownership legislation over the past 28 years. Legislation ranges from simple statements encouraging the practice to the allocation of state funds for employee ownership programs. State-sponsored employee ownership initiatives include the following: tax credits, exemption of employee stock ownership plans from state securities regulations, legal recognition of workers' cooperatives, earmarked loan funds and loan guarantees, interest rate subsidies, technical assistance, state employee ownership centers, and using employee ownership as a means to privatize state services.

About Measure

States that have passed employee ownership legislation (as of 2001).

Source

Grummell, J., & Logue, J. (2001). Employees and ownership: Trends, characteristics, and policy implications of state employee ownership legislation. Kent, OH: Ohio Employee Ownership Center, Kent State University.